Charity chief calls for a better understanding

Motor and Allied Trades Benevolent Fund (BEN) director Geoffrey Atkinson has called for an end to friction between private and not-for-profit operators in the long term care sector. Mr Atkinson, who was made an OBE in the New Year Honours List, has been involved with BEN for the past 20 years. The charity operates four residential care homes with a total of almost 400 beds, and employs 450 staff. Last year BEN received international attention when it opened what is believed to be the world’s first workplace day care centre. Motor industry employees throughout the Coventry area can bring frail, elderly relatives to be cared for at the centre while they go to work. Mr Atkinson says there are significant differences between charities like BEN and other more recently established not-for-profit organisations. “There is a great deal of misunderstanding at the moment between the ‘private’ and the ‘not-for-profit’ sectors,” Mr Atkinson said. “Critics from the small business world do not always understand that it is u